''Turbinella pyrum'',

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...

s the chank shell, sacred chank or chank, also known as the divine conch or referred to simply as a

conch Conch ( , , ) is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high Spire (mollusc), spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point on both ...

, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of very large

sea snail Sea snails are slow-moving marine (ocean), marine gastropod Mollusca, molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the Taxonomic classification, taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguishe ...

with a

gill A gill () is a respiration organ, respiratory organ that many aquatic ecosystem, aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow r ...

and an operculum, a marine

gastropod Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Turbinellidae. This species occurs in the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

. The name "chank" for the shell of this species is derived from the Indian word ''

shankha A Turbinella pyrum, shankha () has religious ritual importance in Hinduism. In Hinduism, the shankha called panchajanya is a sacred emblem of the Hindu preserver deity Vishnu. It is still used as a trumpet in Hindu ritual, and in the past was us ...

'', the divine conch. The old generic name was ''Xancus''. The Dutch used to call them ''chianco''.

Distribution

This species is found mainly in the

Description

The shell of this species is massive, with three or four prominent columellar plicae. It is usually pure white under a heavy brown

periostracum The periostracum ( ) is a thin, organic coating (or "skin") that is the outermost layer of the shell of many shelled animals, including molluscs and brachiopods. Among molluscs, it is primarily seen in snails and clams, i.e. in gastropods an ...

, but it can also be a pale

apricot An apricot (, ) is a fruit, or the tree that bears the fruit, of several species in the genus ''Prunus''. Usually an apricot is from the species '' P. armeniaca'', but the fruits of the other species in ''Prunus'' sect. ''Armeniaca'' are also ...

color. It can sometimes be dotted with dark brown. Shells of the lightning whelk (''Sinistrofulgur sp.''), a normally left-handed western

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

genus, are sometimes sold in imitation of the rare left-handed shells of the ''Turbinella'' species.,

Human use

The shell has considerable significance in

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

and

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

. It is considered to be sacred and is one of the eight auspicious symbols. In these religious contexts, the shell is sometimes modified by having the tip of the spire cut off, so it can be blown as a ceremonial

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

. Some shells used in this way are decorated with metal and semiprecious stones. Like most other gastropods, the shell of this species is almost always right-handed, or dextral, in its shell-coiling, but very rarely a left-handed shell is found (one in approximately 200,000 individuals). In the Hindu religious context, the very rare left-handed (sinistral) shells of this species are known as '' Dakshinavarti Shankh'' in Sanskrit or ''Valampurich chanku'' in Tamil, as opposed to the more common right-handed forms, which are known as ''Vamavarti''. The ''Dakshinavarti'' is particularly highly valued in terms of its religious significance. In its religious context, the ''Dakshinavarti shankh'' is considered to be right-handed, because the "handedness" of the shell coiling is measured with the "spout" or siphonal canal of the shell pointing upwards. This is the opposite orientation to that which students of

malacology Malacology, from Ancient Greek μαλακός (''malakós''), meaning "soft", and λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (molluscs or mollusks), the second-largest ...

use when assigning "handedness" to a shell.

References

External links

* Photo of a shell with periostracum and operculum
Turbinella pyrum [ シャンクガイ ]
* A dextral and a sinistral shell of the species

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1280922 Turbinellidae Gastropods described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus

Distribution

Description

Human use

See also

References

Further reading

External links